After a crazy year in golf, PGA Championship may hold more surprises

SHEBOYGAN, Wis.
-- When Y.E. Yang took down Tiger Woods on a steamy Sunday afternoon at
Hazeltine, there was a sense that golf's staid world had just undergone
a big change.

Oh, how little anyone knew.

APGraeme McDowell signs some autographs for fans, heading into the PGA Championship.

A
year later, Woods' game might be a bigger mess than his personal life,
Phil Mickelson is a vegetarian and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin
is doing his best imitation of Vince McMahon, nearly coming to blows
with Golf Channel reporter Jim Gray.

About
the only certainty when players tee off at the PGA Championship on
Thursday is that more surprises are in store at the last major in this,
the most wacky of years.

"This is probably as
wide open a major as we've seen in a long time," Steve Stricker said.
"I think we all have a sense that if you can play well and get it
going, then you have that great opportunity to win here."

Rewind
to Saturday night at Hazeltine, and more than a few people were already
wondering whether Whistling Straits would be the place where Woods
finally caught Jack Nicklaus. Woods was the 54-hole leader, and he
never, ever lost a major when leading after the third round.

With
this year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the British Open at St.
Andrews, it was easy to imagine Woods rolling into Wisconsin sitting on
17 majors, one shy of Nicklaus' record.

Instead, the buzz is whether Woods will even make the cut this week.

He
hasn't come close to winning a tournament since running over that fire
hydrant on Thanksgiving, unleashing a firestorm of tawdry details about
his rampant infidelities. While his personal life is beginning to
"normalize," his game is doing the exact opposite. He slumped to a new
low last week, shooting a whopping 18-over 298 and managing to beat
only one player in the 80-man field at Firestone - a course where he's
won seven times.

He's broken par in only four
of his last 20 rounds, and is scrambling to hang onto the No. 1 ranking
he's held for a record 270 weeks in a row. Even the Ryder Cup is far
from a given. Woods could wind up having to be a captain's pick - which
is what prompted the dustup between Gray and Pavin.

Gray
reported on Tuesday night that Pavin told him he would pick Woods if he
didn't make the team on his own. Pavin vehemently denied it - on
Twitter, no less - and the two had a heated exchange Wednesday.

All part of a week - a year, really - that has not gone to form.

"To
be honest with you, I thought I would have been here a little bit
sooner, with all that's going on," Woods said of his struggles. "But
somehow I've been able to play a little bit better than I thought for a
stretch, and then it finally caught up with me last week.

"This
is a new week," he added. "That's one of the great things about this
sport is that no matter how poorly or how well you play the week
before, it all begins anew."

It's a new start for Lefty, too. Lefty the Vegetarian, that is.

Mickelson
dropped a bombshell Tuesday, disclosing that he has a form of arthritis
that left him in so much pain the last two months he couldn't walk. The
condition is under control thanks to medication, and it should have no
negative impact on his long- or short-term health.

As
if that wasn't enough of a shocker, Mickelson then announced he's
changed his diet, too, giving up his beloved burgers for broccoli and
beans.

"I know, I know," he said.

Mickelson
said the arthritis didn't affect his play at the U.S. Open or British
Open. But he's had two months' worth of opportunities to claim the No.
1 ranking from Woods, and is still stuck on No. 2. He blew up Sunday at
Firestone with a 78, his worst round in two years.

"I'm
probably not as sharp as I would like to be," said Mickelson, who only
resumed his normal practice schedule last week. "I didn't play well at
the British, obviously. I didn't play well last week, on the weekend,
but I'm able to work on it. I had a good session with Butch and I
believe that the game's coming around."

Meanwhile, everyone else in the field is looking at that Wanamaker Trophy and picturing themselves hoisting it on Sunday night.

The
PGA has a history of surprise winners - Shaun Micheel anyone? Rich
Beem? Lionel Hebert? - but all of the majors are turning into a
free-for-all of late. Five of the last six major championships have
been won by first-timers, including the U.S. Open (Graeme McDowell) and
the British Open (Louis Oosthuizen).

And, of course, Yang at last year's PGA.

"I'll
be honest, the feeling in the locker room is slightly different," Paul
Casey said. "With the way (Woods) played the past week, guys feel like
this is wide open, and that's not a feeling that a lot of guys have had
before."